


"Got Some Change?"

by GreenRoyale



Series: Some Change and Some Games [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: But I love Clint so leave him alone, Clint Barton should be slapped, Fluff and Mush, M/M, Nat will punch Clint anyway, Steve Rogers is a sap, Steve has a glorious jaw, The Avengers doesn't know, The Glorious American Jaw, Tony Stark can't get off Steve Rogers, Tony and Steve are in love, Tony loves it too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 07:16:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2058909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenRoyale/pseuds/GreenRoyale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Can Steve and Tony keep their romantic relationship a secret while still enjoying the benefits of dating each other?</p><p> </p><p>I don't actually have an answer for that.</p><p> </p><p>The relationship between Steve and Tony has just gone from just friends to much more but they're still tip-toeing around the team. They choose to balance their professional and romantic relationship by keeping them separate. Then Tony comes up with an idea...</p>
            </blockquote>





	"Got Some Change?"

**Author's Note:**

> Alright here is the installment for the early stages of Stony. They have just gotten into the dating stage but have yet to let the team know. Keeping a secret is really tough, especially when you live with a team of super spies.
> 
> As I have always mentioned in my other one-shots, this is actually a part of a series but I don't have all the parts posted in chronological order. Do check out the other parts of this series from before the relationship to an established one.
> 
> Work is unbeta'd. Do flag it to me if you spot any mistakes.

The two of them sat there with their backs resting on each other’s. Steve was sketching the sunset, a beautiful horizon silhouetting the skyline of a busy city. Tony was just busy tapping away on his StarkPad, analysing technology as usual. Occasionally, the genius would just be stretching widely and trying to grab whichever parts of Steve that he could get without having to turn around. Steve, on the other hand, would just smile and continued.

 

Sometimes they would talk about nothing and everything, from history to politics, to even the evolution of ice cream flavours. On other times, the sounds of tapping on glass screens and strokes of lead on paper just filled the air.

 

“I’m tired,” Tony stretched for what seemed to be the twelfth time in an hour. “I need to rest.”

 

The genius then turned around, pulled the sketchbook and pencil out of Steve’s hands and rested his head on his lap. Steve chuckled and stretched his legs out so it was more comfortable for both of them.

 

Tony had his eyes closed and just snuggled in closer to Steve, burying his face into the blond man’s stomach and inhaling his scent. Steve played idly with Tony’s hair for a moment and then a thought popped up in his head.

 

“Tony?”

 

“Hmm,” the reply came as grunt in his stomach.

 

Steve didn’t continue and thought over how to bring the topic up. He had never been the kind to hesitate when giving instructions to the team. Everything is very clear cut and straight to the point. He just needed to give his orders and plans would fall into place. But when it comes to his personal issues and relationships, there were too many unclear variables to think of.

 

Tony looked up to see Steve dazed in thought and became curious, “What?”

 

“Oh no, I was just thinking,” Steve admitted, running a hand through his hair.

 

“About?”

 

Steve sighed. He knew Tony wasn’t going to leave the topic now that its been brought up.

 

“Us.”

 

“What about us?” Tony immediately got up from his position, sitting so he could look at the blond man in the eye. If that single word had not caused his heart to jump out of his ribcage, he didn’t know what did.

 

“I was just thinking,” Steve started again, straightening his pants. “Would it affect our professional relationship? You know, the fact that there is an us. I just don’t want it to meddle with the fact that we’re a team.”

 

“Why would it affect our professional relationship?” Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “We’ll go out there, bust some bad guys’ butts like a team. What would change? What _could_ change? You think I’m gonna start obeying your orders now that we’re dating?”

 

Steve scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Well, that would definitely not change.”

 

Tony gave a smirk and shrugged nonchalantly as though he was right the whole time. Instead of resuming his spot on Steve’s thigh, he turned and leant into Steve’s chest instead.

 

“But would it affect the relationship the other way around, though?” Steve continued.

 

“I don’t know about you but not to me,” Tony replied, grabbing his StarkPad from the side and fiddling with it without actually turning it on. “It’s always been like that in the team, hasn’t it? I get pissed with so many people- no wait, Barton. Just Barton. And I’m still pissed with him. But that won’t mean I’m not gonna work with him anymore. It’s professionalism.”

 

“Right,” Steve nodded with a smile and then another thing popped up in his head. “Who’s going to tell the team then?”

 

Tony froze, “About?”

 

Steve tilted his head in confusion, unable to see Tony’s face and unable to gauge the reaction of the genius. “Us?”

 

“Yeah about that umm, can we not?” Tony started and thought twice about how it would come out if he continued. “I mean… The team doesn’t need to know… Yet.”

 

Tony quickly straightened up and face Steve again. The blond man tilted his head, his eyebrows knitted together and his lips went thin. “Why? You’re embarrassed to be associated with me?”

 

“No, no! Why would I be? You’re an American Dream! How could I ever be embarrassed? If anybody would be embarrassed, it would be you. I mean, I don’t really have a clean record and everything.”

 

Steve sighed and looked blankly at Tony who took it as a sign that he should explain himself. He clenched his teeth and waited.

 

“I mean, think about it,” the genius continued. “If the team knows, if everybody knows… It would affect their morale. I’m not saying we hide forever. Heck, we’re not even hiding. We just don’t need to tell everyone yet. It would really affect the team if they knew about us. And besides, you didn’t want anything to change in our professional relationship and if they knew, it would definitely change everything.”

 

Tony could only look pitiful as Steve glazed over and thought about it. They were only about to begin their relationship. It would really suck if they broke up because of this.

 

“You’re right,” Steve agreed, albeit slightly reluctantly, and Tony subtly let out a sigh of relief. “I don’t think the team would be too pleased to know that their leaders are dating each other.”

 

“Right,” Tony seconded. “And it’s not forever, really. Just until we are both ready.”

 

“Then we can’t always meet up like this, they could get suspicious,” Steve shook his head and frowned.

 

Tony’s smile slid off his face immediately, thinking of the horrors of dating Steve while not being able to actually _date_ him.

 

“We could use codewords,” Tony suggested. “Maybe if I need to see you alone, I could say a codeword. Like we always do for missions.”

 

“Like what?”

 

The genius glazed over for a moment and thought, “how about change? I could ask you for some change.”

 

“Really,” Steve’s tone and expression showed that he was absolutely unimpressed. “You’re gonna ask me for money.”

 

“I’m not actually asking you for money,” Tony rolled his eyes. “I’m asking you for something that you wouldn’t be carrying around. You don’t actually… Carry small change… With you… Do you?”

 

“Of course, I don’t!”

 

“Then that’s perfect! I’d ask you for some change when I want to meet you alone,” Tony raised both his hands up and cheered like he just won a Gold Medal.

 

Steve simply shook his head in amusement and ran his fingers through his hair again. He turned to look at the sunset that had already almost completely disappeared behind the horizon and let his thoughts drift off. The light accentuated his features and his beautiful jaw.

 

 _That glorious jaw_ , Tony thought.

 

Tony raised a hand and pulled Steve’s face to look at him. At the sight of the brilliant blue orbs in the blond’s eyes, he could just sigh contently. “God, you are so beautiful.”

 

Steve smiled and blushed at the compliment. He hooked an arm around the genius’ waist and pulled him in, closing the gap between them.

 

“Am I now?”

 

“Now, now, I’d never thought of you as the rough type,” Tony teased as he tried to release himself from Steve’s grip, only to experience a sample of the super soldier strength. “You’re using your strength against me.”

 

“Worried I’m gonna break you?” Steve tugged Tony closer again, locking the genius in position.

 

“Ohhh, if it’s you I’d love to be broken,” Tony growled. Instead of pulling himself away, Tony used all his strength and pushed forward, making them both fall over. “But I’m not so weak either.”

 

“Really?” Steve pushed Tony and within a blink he was on top. They began wrestling each other for a moment, Steve showing off his strength and Tony flaunting his reflex. He may not be the strongest but all the self-defense training over the years did give Tony some of his own prowess.

 

In the end, Steve let Tony subdue him and just laid on his back as the genius sat atop him with an exaggerated laugh of victory.

 

“Told ya I’m not so weak,” the genius panted and chuckled.

 

As they laughed and breathed heavily, Tony absorbed the view of Steve under him. The blond locks that were nicely combed earlier this morning were all tousled and messy from their little wrestling session. The corner of his eyes wrinkled as he laughed and the way his lips stretched over his pearly white teeth pulled the last string of Tony’s self-control.

 

The genius bent over and planted a chaste kiss on his lips. It got deeper and more sensual. It was a perfect day off with just the two of them, the sunset, and some promises. If he had all the power in the world, he would never let go of this precious moment.

  
  


Then comes a boring Wednesday. Tony hadn’t got the chance to see Steve the whole week as the Captain kept being called back to the Headquarters for some classified purposes. And now that he’s finally back in the tower, he’s been hogged by Natasha in the morning, Coulson in the afternoon and even Clint in the evening.

 

The genius sat on the couch of his lab, drumming his fingers on the armrest, staring at the clock on the wall.

 

The time kept ticking.

 

“That’s it,” Tony said, getting up to his feet and taking the elevator up to the communal floor.

 

Steve had just finished drying out some of his glass cups after using it. For some reason he preferred cleaning the cups with his own bare hands rather than use the million dollar dishwasher and dryer.

 

Clint began staring blankly at the countertop, pondering deeply about serious matters. “But if we do that, would Fury authorize it?”

 

“I’ll get him to authorize it,” Steve said, wiping the glass idly with a clean rag. “All you need to do is just get the Quinjet ready. Everything else will fall into place but you have to remember... We need to be as careful as possible. One wrong move and it’s gone.”

 

"You're gonna have to tell Nat whatever you just told me 'cus there's no way I'm gonna remember any of that," Clint chuckled and took a sip of his drink. Steve could only sigh and shake his head.

 

The elevator doors parted and footsteps could be heard approaching the kitchenette. Clint and Steve waited until the person came into their view and the familiar face appeared, looking like he’s been on nothing but caffeine for the past week.

 

“Hey, Cap,” Tony called out, scratching the back of his head as he walked in. “You got some change?”

 

Clint raised his eyebrows in surprise and sent a glance to Steve who was doing the best impression of a reindeer caught in headlights. The super soldier dropped the rag and glass onto the counter and wiped his hands dry.

 

“Yeah, actually… Actually I do,” he said before excusing himself and following Tony into the elevator.

 

As soon as the two of them disappeared behind the elevator doors, Clint tilted his head in confusion and thought to himself, “Change?”

 

They hurried down the elevator, looking as civil as they could. Tony’s hands were in his pocket but he kept side-eyeing the blond man standing next to him. When they got to Steve’s designated floor, they walked hurriedly to the captain’s room.

 

Next thing they knew, they were already pressed onto each other and trying to swallow each other’s faces. Tony let his hands roam all over Steve’s body, slipping under his shirt to feel his chiseled muscles as they contracted upon his touch, extracting a deliciously deep moan from the blond man’s throat. Steve had one hand in Tony’s hair and the other was pulling the genius towards him by the waist, getting a chuckle of approval from the genius.

 

Without them realising it in all their eagerness, the back of Steve’s legs had hit the armrest of his couch and the two of them toppled gracelessly onto the ground. Tony had lost his balance as well and fell on top of Steve.

 

“Sorry!” the genius tried to get up but Steve just chuckled and pulled him down again for another heated kiss. It took Tony a moment before realising how bad the situation would have been if he had fallen on top of another partner. But this was Steve Rogers. He could take any weight on him anytime.

 

They spent the whole time just making out like overexcited teenagers. Then they giggled at each other like high school girls as they lay there in each others’ arms.

 

“You have no idea how I had to stop myself from just jumping you,” Tony said, his thumb rubbing subconsciously on Steve’s abs. “You have that look on you that… You know… Makes me want to eat your face off and then just do you on the bed all night.”

 

“That doesn’t sound too pleasant,” Steve winced.

 

“Which part? The eating your face off or the doing you on bed?”

 

Steve hummed for a moment and smiled, poking Tony’s side. “What do you think?”

 

Tony flinched at the poke and then growled at the soldier. “You’re starting to get naughty…”

 

“And you like it,” Steve pulled Tony into another hug that shifted the genius from his position like he was just a pillow. The blond just buried his head into the crook of Tony’s neck and stayed like that for a while.

 

“Steve?” Tony called, only to receive a non-committal hum. “Are you happy now?”

 

There was a low rumbling that vibrated through Tony’s chest and he knew Steve was laughing. The genius pulled himself away and used his own arm as a pillow, turning to face the blond man.

 

“I’m serious, Steve,” Tony said, looking grim and slightly nervous at the same time. His brown eyes were big and hopeful as he waited. “Are you happy now?”

 

Steve looked kind as always and there was a glimmer in his eyes that Tony could never understand. “Of course I am.”

 

At the concerned look in Tony’s eyes, Steve simply added, “Why would I not be?”

 

Tony got up from his position and rolled over to Steve, planting a kiss on the blond man’s forehead and down to his nose and down to his lips. The soft and tender kisses on his lips laced with a smell of coffee and a tinge of scotch made Steve smile, thinking of how he missed it all this while too.

  
  


The team got off the Quinjet and walked into the meeting room to get a debrief from Fury or Coulson as usual. Natasha was limping slightly but refused to walk with any support, making her way independently.

 

When they reached the meeting room, tension hung heavy in the air as everybody settled down into their seats. Tony watched as Steve took his seat in the far end of the room, not looking at anybody but keeping his eyes fixed at a spot on the table top.

 

Bruce had de-hulked and was sitting on his usual seat as Natasha walked over and passed him a pack of ice before settling down herself. Clint had taken a cup of water from the water cooler in the room and was about to take his seat next to Natasha when the Captain finally spoke.

 

“Why did you do that?”

 

Tony had to give credit to the Captain. That was by the far the longest he had ever held himself back from confronting a teammate who particularly screwed up in a mission. Most of the time it was Clint, on others it was Tony. Usually they would get into an argument almost immediately after setting foot on real ground, if it was Tony. But recently, Steve had promised to keep himself calm until the team really settles down but sometimes he just can’t keep it in long enough.

 

“Why didn’t you wait for my orders?” the super soldier continued, his blue eyes raging with anger as they locked with the archer’s pair of blues as well. “We were already on the way-...”

 

“But I was there first, wasn’t I?” the archer replied. “I was only going to get in and check, how was I supposed to know there was a switch on the door knob?”

 

“Maybe if you actually waited, we could’ve told you!” Steve said through gritted teeth, trying to keep his calm. “You didn’t just endanger yourself there, Hawkeye. You endangered all of us. Iron Man had to get in there to take you out. If he didn’t make it-...”

 

“Look, I screwed up okay I get it. Stop rubbing it in!”

 

Steve looked like he was about to flip the table from the way he had his grip on it. The two of them stared at each other for a minute and nobody seemed to dare to breathe.

 

It would have been easy for Steve to just let it slide, like every other time when anyone from the team disobeyed or even went against his order but this time it was different. The mission was far different from the ones they were used to. It was not just taking down the hostiles, it was rescuing the hostage as well.

 

Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America were the hostile take-down team. Black Widow and Hawkeye were the rescue team. Divide and conquer. It should really be simple but it ended up much messier than it was supposed to be. The hostage was strapped with a bomb and the trigger was apparently at the door knob itself and when they went in, the bomb had started counting down. Iron Man had rushed in, took the bomb off and tossed it into the sea. It was a close shave but everything else was in place.

 

“Cap,” Tony called out loudly, breaking the tension. Everyone turned to him but he was only looking at the blond captain. “You got some change?”

 

“Is this any time to ask for some change, Stark?” The Captain glared at the man. Tony merely raised an eyebrow at him as a challenge.

 

The blond just gritted his teeth and got up from his seat, the chair flying away from him in the sudden action. He turned around and looked at Tony in the eye. There was a certain anger in the blond’s eyes but Tony did not back down either. After a moment, Steve relaxed a little and walked out, Tony following closely after.

 

They walked down the corridors and around the corner where they usually take their time off after missions. It was the furthest and most ridiculous spot to place a vending machine.

 

At the end of a corridor with empty offices, right next to a flight of stairs. Maybe that was the point of it being there. Nobody goes there. The best part about it was the absence of surveillance cameras at that corner.

 

Steve just stood facing away from the machine, his body tense and his fists still balled up. Tony walked over, passing a cup of cold drink to him and watched as the good captain gulp it down in one shot. He let Steve take a few deep breaths to calm himself down before reaching up to squeeze his shoulder comfortingly.

 

“It’s okay,” Tony ran his hand down the span of Steve’s never-ending back and felt the soldier loosen up slightly. He continued rubbing the soldier’s back and smiled a little at the sight of him closing his eyes and sighing. “Yeah, just cool down. It’s bound to happen right. And you know these things happen. It’s not really his fault anyway. If we were there first we would have done the same. Remember we talked about this?”

 

"It's difficult to keep an eye out for the team when you guys don't listen," Steve sighed. "You, especially. I know your armour is foolproof. You didn't have to prove it to me."

 

"Yeah okay I'd keep that in mind."

 

“I mean it, Tony,” Steve said, a serious look in his eyes as he stared at the shorter man. “If you pull such a stunt on me again, I will really…”

 

Steve didn’t manage to finish his sentence. He just took the moment to stare at Tony who was trying his best to look remorseful. But then again, it’s Tony. And Tony doesn’t have a remorseful face.

 

Tony looked up to the blond, wondering why he didn’t finish his sentence, “What?”

 

Steve raised a hand and wiped the stripe of dirt from Tony’s cheek before stepping forward and leaning in for a quick kiss. He pulled back and enjoyed the fact that Tony still had his eyes closed and looked like he was expecting the kiss to be much longer. The soldier then stepped back, smirking and wiped the rest of the dirt away from the genius’ face. “Can’t have that handsome face smeared, now can we?”

 

Tony furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He opened his mouth to snark at Steve but then got distracted by the smirk on those lips for a moment. Then he was about to really say something when someone cleared his throat behind them.

 

“Thought you guys would be here,” the smaller-built blond man said, looking a little awkward. “So umm…”

 

He stepped forward and scratched the back of his head. There was an unmistakable bruise on his cheekbone that was fresh and probably was not caused by the mission earlier.

 

“Am I in the way? I think I’m in the way,” Tony said quickly, stepping away from in between Steve and the man. He then situated himself conveniently next to the vending machine and acted as though he was checking out the content.

 

“I thought I’d just say sorry,” the man said. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

 

“Just don’t do it again, Clint,” Steve sighed. “You know why I’m upset with you.”

 

“Yeah, I know,” the archer replied, looking away sheepishly. “So I guess… Okay, that’s all.”

 

"Clint," Steve called again, making the archer turn back to him. "We cool right?"

 

Clint could only send a confused glance back to Tony who was looking just as confused. When he looked back to Steve, Clint simply smiled and nodded. The Captain raised his fist and held it out, Clint raised his and gave him a quick fistbump.

 

"We cool," Clint said. He shot an air bullet with his handgun at Tony before walking away.

 

They watched as Clint disappeared around the corner, heading back to the meeting room. Steve turned to look at Tony who was giving him an unreadable look.

 

“What?” it was the blond man’s turn to ask now.

 

“Nothing,” Tony shrugged. “Just thinking if I have any plans important enough not to be cancelled for tomorrow. I don’t think I do.”

  
“You’re really going to be the death of me, Tony,” Steve sighed as they walked back to rejoin the group.

**Author's Note:**

> All characters in this fic belong to Marvel and Disney. Please don't sue me... It's Croatoan Day.
> 
> I love comments and Kudos so please give me some :D


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